Hebrew word · H7176

קֶ֫רֶת

karet

town

Town, city. A poetic and rare word, used in place of the ordinary 'ir.

Appears 5 times in 5 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

city, town

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Proverbs 9:3

Range of meaning

Town, city. A poetic and rare word, used in place of the ordinary 'ir.

Against the English

All the major versions say 'city' or 'town'. That is accurate, but it doesn't show that this is a poetic word.

Used elsewhere in the period

Prov 8:3; 9:3, 14; 11:11; Job 29:7. A common Northwest Semitic word: Ugaritic qrt, Phoenician qrt (Qart-hadasht, 'New Town', which became 'Carthage'). Also in place names such as Kiriath-.

From the study of Proverbs 8:3

Range of meaning

'Town, city.' A poetic word found in the Hebrew Bible only in Job 29:7 and Proverbs 8:3; 9:3, 14; 11:11. It is related to the more common qiryah ('town'), which appears in place names like Kiriath-jearim.

Against the English

'City' can make a modern reader picture a metropolis. An Iron Age Israelite qeret was usually a walled town of a few thousand people at most, where the gate was the one main way in and out.

Used elsewhere in the period

Related words appear across the region: Ugaritic qrt 'city' and Phoenician qrt, as in Qart-ḥadasht, 'New City', the name the Greeks and Romans heard as Carthage. Within Proverbs the word marks a pointed contrast. Lady Wisdom calls 'from the heights of the town' (9:3), and the foolish woman sits on a seat 'at the heights of the town' (9:14), so both make their appeals in the same public setting.

Where it appears

Job · 1

  1. Job 29:7 קָ֑רֶת [the] town

    When I went out to the city gate and took my seat in the public square,

Proverbs · 4

  1. Proverbs 8:3 קָ֑רֶת [the] town

    Beside the gates to the city, at the entrances she cries out:

    Here: A rare, poetic word for a walled town. It is related to the 'qart' in Carthage ('new city'). It gives the line an elevated, literary tone.

  2. Proverbs 9:3 קָֽרֶת׃ [the] town

    She has sent out her maidservants; she calls out from the heights of the city.

    Here: Town. A poetic word for city, related to Phoenician qart (as in Carthage, 'New Town'). Exactly the same phrase, 'the heights of the town', comes back in 9:14 for Folly's seat, so the two women compete for the same public space.

  3. Proverbs 9:14 קָֽרֶת׃ [the] town

    She sits at the door of her house, on a seat in the heights of the city,

  4. Proverbs 11:11 קָ֑רֶת a town

    By the blessing of the upright a city is built up, but by the mouth of the wicked it is torn down.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.